Students from kindergarten through 12th grade and the first four years of college in seven counties, including Tuolumne and Calveras, are expected to benefit from an $18.1 million regional state education initiative announced Monday by Columbia College.
The “Sierra K-16: Workforce Ready, Future Engaged” program is part of a statewide $72.5 million program announced last Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Columbia College will serve as the lead agency for a three-year project to create regional education-to-career pipelines in Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Alpine, Mariposa, Inyo and Mono counties, according to a news release Monday from Columbia College President Lena Tran.
The intent of the program is to improve access to higher education and workforce training in career pathways for education, health care, computer science and engineering, Tran said.
Columbia College and a team of school districts, colleges and employer groups in the seven-county region have been awarded the $18.1 million state grant for a regional K-16 education project to provide students with more job and career opportunities.
Educators use the term K-16 to refer to students from kindergarten through the first four years of college.
The state initiative comes from the California Department of General Services, Office of Public School Construction; the Foundation for California Community Colleges; and the Regional K-16
Education Collaborative Grant Program.
The $72.5 million Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program is part of a $250 million investment in the 2021 Budget Act, Newsom’s staff said last week.
Partners in the seven-county region that includes Tuolumne and Calaveras received a planning grant a year ago to establish their collaborative and to plan out a three-year “cradle-to-career” strategy for the region, Tran said.
Partner schools will work together to build training and transfer plans for students on targeted career pathways, with projects that fit regional employment priorities, Tran said.
Columbia College partners in the grant-funded program include the University of California, Merced; California State University, Stanislaus; seven county superintendents of schools; Adventist Health Sonora; the Mariposa, Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne Health Board, Inc.; Apple Inc.; many K-12 districts; and workforce investment boards, including Mother Lode Job Training.
“Sonora Union High School District is excited we are part of a grant that will infuse funding to open up career opportunities for our students,” District Superintendent Ed Pelfrey stated in the news release.
The funding will focus on getting students started on pathways that can lead to jobs in high-demand career tracks like health care, information technology and education to ensure that “students in our community can pursue meaningful careers right here at home,” Pelfrey stated.
“This investment is not just about dollars,” he stated. “It’s about investing in our students’ futures and the future of our community.”
The seven-county region that includes Tuolumne and Calaveras is large, with rural communities that have much in common. The $18.1 million grant for the region is a significant amount of state resources focused on rural solutions, Tran said.
Henry Yong, chancellor of the Yosemite Community College District, said he hopes the new grant-funded collaboration will lead to more opportunities to seek funding that communities need.
Leslie Beggs, president of the YCCD board, praised the program’s intended focus on high-demand, high-quality career pathways for students in rural Central Sierra counties. She also praised the focus on partnerships intended to bring more young students to university and community college campuses.
“Bringing young students to our campuses and giving them positive learning experiences can light a fire in them and help them see the value of education from their earliest years,” Beggs said. “Going to college in the future to gain access to a better career then becomes more of a given and less of a distant pipe-dream.”
Tran said Columbia College is honored to serve as the lead agency for an initiative that is by and for the region’s rural mountain communities, and it’s eager to move ahead with a variety of projects that will support the region’s students, schools and employers.
“What we’ll be doing is changing lives,” Tran said.
Source link
credite